In this sluggish economy, many small businesses are struggling to survive. As owners watch their expenses rise, they are forced to raise prices or see their profits shrink. One website, FeeFighters, is coming to the rescue by helping business owners reduce a notoriously inflated but necessary expense: credit card processing fees.

FeeFighters is a free online comparison shopping engine that lets business owners quickly find the best rates for credit card processing services. Merchants instantly get apples-to-apples bids from top tier processors, and can save an average of 40% on their credit card processing costs. All processors that bid on the site have been vetted, and must adhere to strict rules and transparent pricing­, which ensures business owners won’t get ripped off or hit with hidden costs.

“The credit card processing industry isn’t regulated,” says FeeFighters CEO and Co-Founder Sean Harper. “All too often, a processor promises one rate, when in reality, the fees end up being much higher, and the small business owner who thought he was getting a good deal is stuck paying a lot more than he bargained for.”

CEO Harper was himself a small business owner, and FeeFighters was founded out of his own frustration when shopping for credit card services for his e-commerce website, TSS-Radio. “As the owner of a small start-up, choosing a credit card processor was painful. It took me weeks of research, gathering and comparing bids, then negotiating the terms. I finally thought I secured a good deal, only to learn, months later, that I was being charged almost twice the rate they had quoted me! No business owner should have to go through that hassle,” says Harper.

His solution, FeeFighters, is like Priceline or Expedia for credit card processing. In the same time it takes to comparison shop for airfare, merchants can go onto FeeFighters.com and quickly find the lowest rates from the credit card providers that best match their needs. The process is simple. Merchants answer a few questions about their business, then instantly get a range of competitive bids from top-quality providers who’ve passed FeeFighters’ rigorous check-up. Pricing is shown in an easy-to-compare, apples-to-apples format, and merchants can see customer reviews and Better Business ratings for each provider.

FeeFighters is free for businesses, and makes money by charging processors to participate in the marketplace. Unlike lead generation websites, information that business owners enter is confidential and shared only if a business owner selects a processor to work with.

Harper says that FeeFighters plans to extend its comparison shopping service to eventually include payroll processing, employee health insurance and other financial expenses, to further help small business owners hold on to more of their money.

FeeFighters is a comparison shopping website for credit card processing. We are financial ninjas who fight to help business owners keep more of their money. Our unique auction process and comparison engine allows us to save businesses 40% on average on their credit card processing. FeeFighters is quick and simple to use and all of the processors that bid on our site are vetted and certified by the FeeFighters to ensure quality and ethical behavior.